NASA and Boeing continue to analyze the Boeing Starliner at the International Space Station. The Boeing Starliner has been delayed about six weeks before a planned return flight of two astronauts.
Michael Tzukran is a satellite photographer who captured a picture of the Boeing Starliner being inspected by the Canadarm.
NASA said SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is the backup plan to return astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stuck on the ISS for nearly two months due to Boeing’s Starliner issues.
🚀 Not lost in space, just stuck! On June 5th, #NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore took Boeing’s Starliner into orbit, but their ISS stay got extended. @Clayton_Sandell reports on what’s causing the delay and when they’re expected to return. #BoeingStarliner pic.twitter.com/XkzKDkcdA3
— Scripps News (@scrippsnews) June 25, 2024
At a July 26 briefing, NASA officials said they were targeting no earlier than Aug. 18 for the launch of the Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station. That date had been in question after an upper stage anomaly on a Falcon 9 Starlink launch that grounded the rocket for 15 days. At a separate briefing July 26, the four-person crew of Crew-9 — NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Nick Hague and Stephanie Wilson and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexsandr Gorbunov — said they had no reservations on launching on a Falcon 9 weeks after the upper stage anomaly.
The timing for Crew 9 and Polaris dawn missions will also depend on Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft docked to the station on the Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission. Starliner will have to depart to free up a docking port.
The first operational Starliner mission, called Starliner-1, is no longer scheduled to launch in February 2025 as previously planned. The Crew-10 mission will instead launch then to allow NASA and Boeing more time to review data from the CFT mission and make any changes to the spacecraft. He said Starliner-1 has been rescheduled for August 2025.
Boeings quarterly earnings report for Q2 2024 registered another $125 million loss on the Starliner program. The delays on the Starliner still-ongoing Crew Flight Test, the program’s first mission to carry astronauts into orbit. There have been various leaks of helium, thruster and other issues. Boeing has now suffered an overall loss on the program of nearly $1.6 billion since 2016.
NASA awarded Boeing a fixed price $4.2 billion contract to complete development of the Starliner spacecraft a decade ago. The original plan was to use the Starliner ready to fly astronauts by the end of 2017.
SpaceX has completed all six of its original crew flights for NASA and was paid $3.1 billion. Boeing is at least a year away from starting operational service with Starliner. NASA extended SpaceX’s commercial crew contract to cover eight additional round-trip flights to the space station through the end of the 2020s.
Boeing has fixed-price contracts with the Pentagon to develop new two new Air Force One presidential transport aircraft, Air Force refueling tankers, refueling drones, and trainer airplanes. Boeing has reported losses on all of those programs.
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When NASA is considering a “rescue mission? What does this say about the company that Boeing used to be? It used to be “the greatest of the greatest”. As company’s go, it was the best. They knew what they did, and they did it very well. Today, I wouldn’t get on a Boeing aircraft without serious life insurance. Never a good sign. I say this as a gay man, whose never been married, and has no kids. But I do have three nephews. So, I leave my money to them.
So, if the s*** hit’s the fan, I know I can’t take it with me. So I hope they HAVE A VERY GOOD TIME!! Works for me…
If there is a more than negligible possibility it could fail on return, and they have options, then take the options.
Fill it with trash bags of more or less the same weight as the astronauts and send it on its way. The astronauts, them, can take another ride home.
If it survives, cool, serves as another point for its validation process. If it doesn’t, too bad, but no real damage other than to property was done.
Using it to return them despite the reasons for doubting it would be a return to the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, where they knew that the Shuttle might have damage that would be fatal on reentry, but refusing to pursue any options to confirm it and be forced to conduct some kind of rescue mission, had them reenter in it and die.
The Dragon capsule has a proven record, Send one up, carrying instruments and ballast for the Starliner, and send the Starliner back down unmanned as a test, while bringing the astronauts down on a craft that isn’t known for a fact to be defective.
Yep. This is the situation of the Columbia disaster all over again.
But today there are options. Options that can be ready in days, but apparently they don’t want to use them because it’s the wrong electoral moment.
Something the media doesn’t talk too much either, is that the astronauts didn’t come prepared for a long stay. It was supposed to be so short they don’t have enough changes of clothing, for example.
Knowing how things work in space (keeping your clothes on until they are so filthy you throw them in the waste bin), unless they have some spare ones, it’s kind of a torture to keep them like that.
When the current way to get the guys and gals back, is not predictable, Jesus F****** Christ! Hey gang, this is crazy. When the basic way of getting to and from space, is not reliable enough to do it “occasionally”, let alone as reliable as commercial airliners crossing oceans, what does that tell us? Well, duh… We need to do a hell of a lot more better. The REAL space age will be upon us, when we notice that we expect every day, like a space ship coming and going from/to wherever, does NOT show up. It will be a shock. That day, will let us all understand, the REAL space age, is in our face.
Wait, they need a backup plan? I’ve been informed by multiple sources (admittedly mostly YouTubers) that the Starliner return capsule is fine, and the astronauts’ return is delayed merely to continue to study the failed lower stage before it is jettisoned at reentry. If NASA is looking for backup options, clearly all is not well in the Starliner capsule.
Boeing really is demonstrating to the world what a clownshow they’ve become. To be fair, if it had been a classic cost+ contract they probably would have delivered a decently engineered product, late and over-budget. That McD legacy is really hurting. At least their new CEO is basing himself in Seattle rather where the MBA’s had located the HQ.
That ISS picture showing the CanadaArm2 inspecting Starliner is pretty impressive, since it was supposedly an amateur shot.